Sunday, December 7, 2008

The other day while perusing E Magazine I got a shock. On page 61 was a most unusual advertisement, one that promotes a smaller population in the United States! I couldn’t believe it, for the (over)population issue has long been ignored by politicians, environmental organizations and media alike.

The ad was placed by Negative Population Growth (NPG), a national organization founded in 1972 to educate the American public about the detrimental effects of overpopulation on the environment, resources and quality of life. It advocates a smaller and sustainable United States population. The ad urges a national debate on the population issue and requests readers to sign a citizens’ petition for a national population policy.

Fascinated, I visited the NPG website. Everything I read was solid, sensible common sense. The US population has doubled since 1950, generating more pollution, more sprawl, less green space, and enormous demands on the earth's already overburdened resources. The population is projected to increase another 133 million by 2050.

Based on scientific research, NPG’s target for US population is 150 to 200 million. Most importantly, they advocate no draconian methods to achieve this goal, as was done in India or China, but recommend policies that encourage smaller families and less immigration. How sensible, how achievable!

Environmental groups, almost all of whom have gone astray and lost their relevance, need to develop similar programs.

I urge that you visit the Negative Population Growth web site (http://www.npg.org/) and support their work.

3 comments:

I find it irresistible not to at least take a moment to wonder aloud about what Galileo is doing tonight. My hope would be that the great man is resting in peace and that his head is not spinning in his grave. How, now, can Galileo possibly find peace when so many top-rank scientists refuse to speak out clearly, loudly and often regarding whatsoever they believe to be true about the distinctly human-induced, global predicament presented to the family of humanity in our time by certain unbridled "overgrowth" activities of the human species from which global challenges visibly issue now and loom ominously on the far horizon?

Where are the thousands of scientists who have a responsibility to stand up with those who developed virtual mountains of good scientific research regarding overconsumption, overproduction and overpopulation activities of the human species that are now overspreading and threatening to engulf the Earth.

Perhaps there is something in the great and everlasting work of many silent scientists that will give Galileo a moment of peace in our time.

What would the world we inhabit look like if scientists like Galileo adopted a code of silence, speaking only about scientific evidence which was politically convenient, economically expedient, religiously condoned and socially correct?

On the need for scientific education regarding the human overpopulation of Earth in these early years of Century XXI...........

Dear Friends,

I want to at least try to gain your quick help. I'm not sure if you've heard, but yesterday the "AWAREness Campaign on the Human Population" submitted an idea for how we think the Obama Administration could change America. It's called "Ideas for Change in America."

I've submitted an idea and wanted to see if you could vote for it. The title is: Accepting human limits and Earth's limitations. You can read and vote for the idea by clicking on the following link:

The top 10 ideas are going to be presented to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day and will be supported by a national lobbying campaign run by Change.org, MySpace, and more than a dozen leading nonprofits after the Inauguration. So each idea has a real chance at becoming policy.

Thanks.

Sincerely yours,

Steve

Steven Earl SalmonyAWAREness Campaign on the Human Population, established 2001http://sustainabilityscience.org/content.html?contentid=1176

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RUNAWAY HUMAN POPULATION — A Blog

My goal with this blog is to generate dialogue about human population and all its myriad impacts. It will not post news items about the deteriorating global scene (even though there is much to post). Instead, I want to get people talking, thinking about this immense problem. We desperately need to find workable solutions.

Click on "Comments" below each post to add your ideas to this discussion.

Contributor

I'm an environment and travel writer with an irresistable urge to travel and immerse myself in places near and far.
An ardent environmentalist and nature lover, I enjoy kayaking, hiking and a glass of wine with friends. I have three blogs: a fun one on travel (www.immersed-in-away.blogspot.com), a serious one about human population and the future of our good planet (www.runaway-human-population.blogspot.com) and one about the delightful island where I live (perfectlittlependerisland.blogspot.com).